County approves opening recruitment for juvenile court counselor; adult division supervisor recruitment discussed

Columbia County commissioners authorized the opening of a recruitment for a juvenile court counselor and discussed a separate internal recruitment for an adult division supervisor at the March 18 meeting.

Larry Evanston, who identified himself as the Community Justice Director for Columbia County, asked the board to open recruitments for both positions. He said the adult division supervisor is a budgeted but currently vacant position and that the county has been using temporary rotations to cover the work. For the juvenile court counselor, Evanston said the position had been removed from the current fiscal-year budget after a vacancy but he had requested that it be restored for the 2026–27 budget and that he wanted to open recruitment early so a new hire could begin by June 15 and attend a basic juvenile-court training in late June that occurs only twice a year.

Commissioners discussed budget timing and cautioned about hiring before final budget approval; one commissioner said opening recruitment to allow the process to move forward was reasonable while reserving final hiring until the budget is approved. Evanston told the board that finance indicated a de minimis budget impact if the hire began slightly early. The board recorded a voice vote in favor of opening recruitment for the juvenile court counselor and supported proceeding with an internal recruitment process for the adult division supervisor.

Next steps: Human Resources will post the juvenile court counselor recruitment and proceed with screening so a candidate could start in mid-June if budget approvals allow; the adult division supervisor recruitment will proceed as an internal posting as appropriate.